not at BETD and would look to be very spendy if they did. Got a Truvativ isis 175mm that fits fine in the end, okay not as good looking but does the job…thanks all.

Thanks, have now stripped it for parts wanted and stuck the frameset on ebay with offer option – @thepodge, cheers

IMG_7249

Very weird, under silver paper down the tube seems to be what looks like a PP3 battery terminal and nothing else….

Thanks, sounds like not worth doing. thepodge I’ll let you know when taken apart. No idea why silver paper on top, I’ll peel off and have a look what’s underneath, could be something hidden….

N – do you still have the 27.5 + tyres?

£499 for swytch kit, about £100 more for higher capacity battery, google them, cheers. But took 5 months to arrive….

Stuck a Swytch hub motor kit on my old Diamondback hardtail mtb now commuter. Pretty straightforward to fit, good instructions. Goes really well, nice and smooth and light comparatively for a conversion kit. Took ages for the kit to arrive though.
IMG_6965

£500 Swytch kit to add to existing bike? Long wait times though, just got one after 5 months from ordering

Success! Soaked over night, Torx tool knocked in and it undid luckily, now to find a better replacement. Thanks for advice all!

Doesn’t seem to be any smaller hex inside the rh hole. Will give it all a liberal soak in plus gas now and try mole grips on the lh side sticky out bit tomorrow to see if it budges. If it does, new thru axle I guess, and grease/antiseize etc.

No unfortunately – as above – ‘On the right side you can see where the axle screws in to the frame but the hole in it is round so can’t get any allen key/torx tool in to try and unwind from there’.

There’s a small grub allen screw through the actual lever which looks like it is for clamping on to the qr shaft but it’s fully tight and unfortunately just seems to still spin around on this shaft. The bike has been left for ages and I suspect something has seized inside as it was probably never greased….

Update, dpd customer service staff were actually very helpful and as others have said here I had to pursue with the eBay seller. Today I got refunded by them and now I guess it is down to them to sort out with dpd directly. So a quicker resolution than expected luckily, now to find the item somewhere else. Cheers

Doing some stuff with local vw at the moment who kindly offered to lend us the new E Transporter T6.1 to try out but warned us that the range was only 80 miles ‘on a good day’. Pretty poor compared to what Nissan and Vauxhall say they get from their electric vehicles (well vans we looked at). VW have said they can’t lend us one now until late Feb as they are all waiting for a software update from Germany. All seems a bit rushed getting them out. Much as we like the idea we couldn’t justify it, certainly the price anyway, maybe things will get better in a few years.

Thanks for info, and manual link chestrockwell, just fiddled with the knob…. very slight rebound difference and launch control thing seems to work slightly so all a bit pointless and minimal in effect. At least they do seem plush on the bounce though. The back end of the bike has a Fox Float RL shock which does seem pretty good still, pumped up to the right pressure, it has a long and short travel switch plus a cable operated lock out – all doing what it should still. Not bad for 15 years old.

No we live in the sticks, and not in the present climate anyway, plus it’s everyday use stuff too

Thanks, some good suggestions there I’d not considered.
Yes I’m basically subbing them on this, they live in separate shared houses there one with free parking outside so that’s where it would be most of the time, their current old thing is registered in one of their names with the other as a named driver. They’re cool about sharing stuff as and when, no arguments, makes sense there. About 2 years NCB I think, about 6 months left on the current policy to swap when something else found, and will probably pay a difference (hopefully not massive). So the insurance group is important in the circumstances of their age, use and where they live. One likes the idea of a big old Volvo but will cost a fortune on fuel, tax, insurance etc so trying to keep it real. The other one doesn’t care at all what he uses.
I know it’s a bit of a tall order all in all, but thanks again for ideas of stuff to look at so far.

I had an unpainted shiny steel Diamondback mtb frame made of True Temper TT Lite tubing back in the 90’s that weighed 1700g which I thought was pretty impressive for then. It’s been used ever since by family members in various iterations and is still going strong today. I have a current Rourke 863 Proteam road frame which weighs the same, so not superlight but pretty good for a 56cm frame. A few years ago I had an American Gunnar Roadie steel frame which was even lighter at around 1600g but not sure what tubing it was.

Thanks all, yes that Maverick on ebay looks the same, cheers

Back in the day the cramps, ramones both in Hammersmith in the 80s, Then the velvet underground in the early 90s, the sonics in the noughties, more recently the Limananas and the oh sees, all fantastic live.

I’ve just gone from 2x Ultegra R8000 (50/34 and 11-34) to 1 x GRX812 mech and 40t chainset with 11-42 XT cassette, shifts well. Offset nearly all cost by flogging ultegra stuff on ebay.

An ebike was a good start to spark the interest again though for them, enjoy being out and regain basic fitness, now they are riding regular bikes too which must be a good thing.

OP – another one a lady near us has is one of those Halfords Carrera rear wheel drive Crossfires, she got when on dealfor £999, more now though. Maybe a good used one of them is worth a look. She says she’s pleased with it apart from the crap tyres with no end of punctures, so forked out on Marathons and no problems since.

For similar reasons we got a year old one of these found locally for certain lady’s of the house, with the bigger 16ah battery.

https://www.e-bikesdirect.co.uk/brands/freego/freego-eagle-crossbar

Not the prettiest bike that’s for sure but was well under your budget OP as second hand, and it does go really well, c. 50-60 miles on a charge if used appropriately between modes. The frame and components whilst budget aren’t too bad e.g. Tektro brakes, Shimano gears and ours had Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. I have used it for shopping as it has big panniers too, although hat/shades on so not recognised.

New Forest Bike Project CIC will for all if down south

We have kept chickens for 30 years, only 3 now there’s less of us at home to keep a good supply of eggs (always nicer than bought ones). Fortunately we have a big garden so they have their own large fenced Stalag Luft area and don’t strip it of everything. Learnt a lot over the years.
Don’t let out in the main garden as they eat and dig up a lot, shit everywhere and then loiter trying to get in the back door etc. Brown hybrids at point of lay are cheap and good for 2 or 3 years then usually stop laying. Rescue ones we’ve had are hit and miss, we’ve had some real nasty psycho ones. Best ones we have had, and still have, are definite breeds from a nice farm near us, cost more but are healthy, lay regularly and live longer*. Just seem happier friendlier chickens with distinct characters.

Clip their wings, well one wing, if your fence isn’t that high or covered over the top else they’ll get away in the neighbouring trees and bushes to roost. Shut away at night and when they first start laying keep them in their house for longer than usual in the morning so they see it as the place to lay rather than finding other places outside (which you might miss or other things will get to first). Don’t put scraps down or overfill an open feeder you’ll get rats, get a rat proof feeder, they soon learn how to peck at it. Keep their water clean and regularly topped up. Have a decent fence / mesh wire for their area dug in a foot and remember to do the gate area (had a fox go under here before) . *A stoat is virtually unstoppable for ripping their heads off and killing them all, just pot luck if this happens – happened about 3 times over the years.

Overall it can be great keeping chickens with minimal maintenance. Easy for me to say though, mrs mainly looks after them! They are mini dinosaurs.

You can get slightly thicker bowden cables around 2 to 3 mm used on things like older motorcycle brake cables or car choke cables, and solderless nipples for adjusting the length to secure (little bolts in them).

RustyNissanPrairie – yes there’s a BMW R9T for sale me near me and saw it in the flesh, looks great, still really expensive though but for what you get compared to the CCM for a bit less pricewise…..:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2018-18-BMW-R-NINE-T-R9T-URBAN-GS-X-SPORT-Simply-beautiful-1-owner-bike/274293000138?hash=item3fdd2307ca:g:g~MAAOSw9ltd3ibh

And that Fantic looks great, new for even less, I wonder if local dealer 3X are open to view/test yet

That Fantic looks good, I remember the Caballero trailie mopeds in the 70’s kids had at school

Thanks, not the original owner (although I do know him, bought about 4 years ago), was given to me for parts but started thinking it might actually be fixable, as some have said with a new weld and longer seatpost, cheers

OP, if you are down south go to Trestan Finishers in Southampton, do a great job on bike frames c.£40, they do loads and properly cover threads, careful blasting & zinc phosphate prime etc. They are still open at present although taking longer obviously as short staffed. For another tenner they’ll do a clear coat lacquer over any decals you want to put on.

Thanks for the leads, I’ll pass on and see what’s what, cheers

In the old days we used to paint sheds and fences with a mixture of 50:50 creosote and used engine oil, can’t imagine that now. Another vote for sadolin superdec Satin now, really good stuff that does last years to justify the initial expense.

Bit late to the party – late 80’s Peugeot 753 frameset with more modern Dura Ace & Ritchey WCS stuff on:

Thanks both for info

For years I have always ridden any bike I have had anywhere accepting the compromise of my or the bikes limits. I was cynical at the marketing blurb at first but caved in and got a Kinesis Crosslight Pro6 disc a couple of years back. It’s been a revelation, it really is a good compromise for the general type of riding where we are in the New Forest (lots of gravel tracks mixed with potholed road sections). I really like the brakes, wide range of gears, the comfort – maybe to do with the geometry, flared bars with thick tape and bigger WTB Riddler tyres. So not shit to me, perfect, but I guess it does depend on where you live and your type of regular riding as others have said.

Back working tomorrow onwards so painted the garden summer house shed thing today with Sadolin, good for another 8 years hopefully..cleaned out the chicken coop…now to binge watch ‘Hunters’ on Amazon Prime.

Our bike workshop is a CIC doing much local community work, had 3 schools cancel upcoming sessions yesterday so it’s having an impact already. 2 of our regular volunteers are over 70, one wants to come in, the other has a cold and is self isolating. So we have decided to halt close working teaching sessions for the time being but, until advised otherwise, are still open for regular drop offs and collections of bikes, keeping a distance / taking advisory NHS/gov precautions. Just have to play it by ear I guess.

Have you tried cliff at Royce engineering? He can make most custom bike parts, not sure at what cost though.

I want to get a new air rifle so reading with interest – I had an AA s200 when they came out over here for a long time, light and accurate, I think I used to get about 50 shots before pumping up again. However it got more and more unreliable, with seals, hammer spring going, pressure varying regularly and was costing loads to get sorted each time. I chopped it in at the local shop for a Weirauch HW97K underlever they recommended which is good quality but pretty heavy. So looking for something simple, reliable and a bit lighter than this. HW77? Or something else from above…

^reminds us of that tidal road down near bigbury in Devon, pretty sketchy if you get the timing wrong